2016 FU12 is an asteroid in the Apollo orbit class. Its orbit takes it from 0.84 AU to 1.17 AU from the Sun; one orbit takes 368.8 days. Orbit from the JPL solution of 15 April 2021.
Where is it now
- Distance from Sun
- 0.955 AU
- True anomaly
- 278.64°
- Distance from Earth
- 0.972 AU
- As of
- 3 November 2026
Two-body Kepler propagation — accurate to ~0.1% for major planets over decades, less so for highly-perturbed bodies. Use JPL Horizons for high precision.
In the sky
- Right ascension
- 18h 41m 05s
- Declination
- -21° 15′ 25″
- Constellation
- Sagittarius
- Distance from Earth
- 0.97 AU
- Elongation from the Sun
- 58.18° — near the Sun — look low at dusk or dawn
Favours the southern hemisphere; low or below the horizon from far north.
From your location
See how high it is right now, whether it is up after civil twilight, and when it rises and sets where you are.
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Two-body approximation, good to about a degree for the planets — enough to find the constellation and know whether it is up.
Orbital elements
- Semi-major axis
- 1.006 AU
- Eccentricity
- 0.1654
- Inclination
- 2.12°
- Orbital period
- 368.8 days
- Perihelion
- 0.84 AU
- Aphelion
- 1.173 AU
- Longitude of ascending node
- 223.92°
- Argument of periapsis
- 198.9°
- Epoch · J2000
- 2461200.5
- Orbit class · APO
- Apollo
- Earth MOID · 13.1 LD
- 0.0336 AU
- Tisserand (Jupiter)
- 6.037
Orbit quality
Orbit poorly determined (uncertainty code 7).
- Observations used
- 19
- Data arc
- 4 days
- First observed
- 28 March 2016
- Last observed
- 1 April 2016
- Residual RMS
- 0.14 ″
- Solution · Otto Matic
- 15 April 2021
Visual & observation
- Absolute magnitude (H)
- 26.9
Discovery & classification
Close approaches 80 on record
Top-down view of the ecliptic, Earth at the centre, for the 2027-03-18 11:37 UTC close approach of 2016 FU12. Catalogue miss distance 176.2 LD · 6.77 × 10⁷ km. The curve is the geocentric path from 2027-03-15 to 2027-03-21, with a mark at UTC midnights and an arrow for the direction of motion. The circle is the Moon’s mean orbit; the Moon is plotted at closest approach. A ray shows the Sun’s direction. The labelled distance is the full separation. The drawn radius is the part that lies in the ecliptic plane. The path is a geocentric ecliptic ephemeris from JPL Horizons. The inset is a heliocentric view and is approximate.
| When (UTC) | Body | Distance | Lunar distances | Relative speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027-03-18 11:37:00 | Earth | 0.4526 AU | 176.2 LD | 18.2 km/s |
| 2036-01-26 23:20:00 | Venus | 0.1305 AU | 50.8 LD | 3.2 km/s |
| 2050-04-01 20:09:00 | Venus | 0.1196 AU | 46.6 LD | 3.2 km/s |
| 2106-07-25 05:55:00 | Earth | 0.4852 AU | 188.8 LD | 18.9 km/s |
| 2107-07-28 05:20:00 | Earth | 0.4272 AU | 166.3 LD | 17.1 km/s |
| 2108-07-30 04:34:00 | Earth | 0.3695 AU | 143.8 LD | 15.4 km/s |
| 2109-08-02 04:24:00 | Earth | 0.3121 AU | 121.5 LD | 13.7 km/s |
| 2110-08-04 23:37:00 | Earth | 0.2555 AU | 99.4 LD | 12 km/s |
| 2111-08-07 21:20:00 | Earth | 0.2005 AU | 78.0 LD | 10.4 km/s |
| 2112-08-09 13:42:00 | Earth | 0.1475 AU | 57.4 LD | 8.8 km/s |
Next ten from today. 1 lunar distance = 384,400 km. Source: JPL close-approach data.
Sources
- visual properties: JPL SBDB (lookup)
- orbital elements: JPL SBDB